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A mother, Mrs. Ilabor, who lost three children in the Sosoliso plane crash on Sunday said it was a traumatic experience.
A mother, Mrs. Ilabor, who lost three children in the Sosoliso plane crash on Sunday said it was a traumatic experience.
She said the death of her children was a dark spot in her life because she stopped child bearing 12 years ago.
Mrs. Ilabor, who stopped the convoy of the Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili, urged the Federal Government to punish the airline.
A Government House bulletin quoted her as saying, 'How can I begin to live a life of misery in Port Harcourt?"
She urged the governor to come to her aid.
Odili who visited the hospitals to console the bereaved families said the timely release of the remains would ease their pains.
He asked the bereaved families to cooperate with trauma counsellors in sorting out their loved ones.
The governor ordered that the bodies of the victims should be released to their relations after proper identification
Another hard-hit family is that of the Deputy Provost of the Abia State-owned University Teaching Hospital, Prof Ikechukwu Mba, who lost two children, Mba C. and Mba I., in the crash.
The grief-stricken family members, who had earlier besieged the Port Harcourt Airport, were directed by officials to five hospitals where the survivors and the deceased were taken to by rescue workers.
Odili said, 'Let us have your identity and let us have confirmation that the person you are taking is your own."
He said the government and the people of the state were in deep shock over the incident and urged the bereaved to take solace in the Biblical injunction that 'nobody creates life except God."
Odili said, 'All I will urge all of you is to take heart and be courageous. Our hearts are flowing out to all of you; we all share in this pain. Think of healthy children and parents all of us were expecting to come home yesterday.
'There is nothing we can do to bring them back to life; just pass your pains to God. He is the only healer, the only consoler."
Odili said the government would write off the cost of the embalment and preservation of the corpses of the victims in the hospitals.
Meanwhile, four of the seven who survived the crash have been confirmed dead. The permanent Secretary in the state ministry of health, Dr. Ngozi Odu, said two of the victims died while being taken to the hospital on Saturday while the rest died at midnight.
The only three survivors as at press time are Mrs. Bunmi Amusan, Mrs. Aligba Priscilla and another passenger simply identified as Nkechi.
Meanwhile, worshippers at the Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju, Lagos, on Sunday were grief-stricken as news of the death of Pastor Bimbo Odukoya in the ill-fated Port Harcourt-bound Sosoliso aircraft filtered in.
Although the church leaders tried hard to keep the news away from the congregation, our correspondent who attended the 11.00 am service observed that the theme of the choir's special number, the sermon and the prayer session portrayed a sombre occasion.
One of the church leaders announced that the widower, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, had early in the morning led a team of church pastors to Port Harcourt in a chartered plane to ascertain the fate of his wife.
He advised the congregation not to panic, adding that all was well.
The visiting preacher at the service, Pastor Ibrahim Abashi, of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Jesus Centre, Amsterdam, was ushered to the pulpit with a song titled, 'It is not over yet, don't give up."
In his sermon entitled 'Medicine for death" with the text taken from the Gospel of Saint John, Abashi described death as man's final common denominator, which 'has no respect for age, class or pedigree."
While referring to the story of Lazarus who was raised from the dead after four days, the clergyman asked the worshippers to keep hope alive, saying the dead would rise again.
He admonished the congregation not to lose hope as the church pastor had earlier declared December as the month of celebration and pleasant surprises.
Sorrow was visible on the faces of the worshippers as the pastor battled to make the service lively with his intermittent 'amen" and 'praise God!"
The worshippers' high spirits again went low when the pastor requested them to pray for the relatives of the deceased.
'Children of God, let us at this point pray for strength for Pastor Taiwo and his children, parents of Pastor Bimbo, Mama and Papa Williams, the entire Williams and Odukoya families as well as all the families of others who lost their lives in the crash," the pastor announced.
Instead of praying, worshippers, wearing long faces, were seen discussing in low tones.
A few of them who heard the news before leaving their homes were seen discussing the development in groups before entering the church.
Another church elder who spoke with newsmen on the condition of anonymity said the church could not speak formally on the development until the delegation that left for Port Harcourt returned.
The church members were warned not to speak with newsmen on the issue on their way out of church.
Also on Sunday, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, called on God to intervene in the incessant plane crashes in Nigeria in order to save the country from sorrow and calamity.
He made the call in his prayer at the house of the late Odukoya in Lagos.
Adeboye, during a condolence visit to the house, said, 'Nigeria is passing through a difficult time and only God's intervention can save the nation."
He prayed for the repose of Bimbo's soul and God's grace on the widower.
Besides Adeboye, other sympathisers, including the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), and clergymen from various churches were at the Odukoya's home to commiserate with the family.
The PUNCH, Monday, December 12, 2005